Dolphins GM Chris Grier said back in April that he expected safety Reshad Jones to be a part of the club in 2019, but there have been rumblings that Miami intends to shop Jones, and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes that the Fins would indeed prefer to trade the two-time Pro Bowler if they get an offer to their liking.

Jones has been absent from OTAs thus far, though head coach Brian Flores expects him to show up for this week’s mandatory minicamp. Jones, 31, is not a part of the Dolphins’ long-term future and carries significant yearly cap hits over the rest of his contract — which runs through 2021 — so it makes sense that Miami would want to make a trade.

Releasing Jones is not feasible because of the dead money that the team would incur, but if the Dolphins are able to deal him, they would carry just $4MM in dead money in 2019 while creating $13MM of cap space. Of course, another club would need to be willing to assume Jones’ contract, and given his age and the fact that he is coming off shoulder surgery, it is unclear if Miami will be able to drum up much interest.

As Jackson notes, the team won’t just give Jones away. If Miami can get a decent draft pick in return, it may be willing to pay part of his salary. If not, then the Fins will just hang onto him and cut him next spring, when the dead cap hit would be more palatable.

Because they don’t want to hurt his trade value, the Dolphins are not making a big deal about Jones’ absence from OTAs or the fact that he refused to go back in the team’s game against the Jets last November after being told earlier in the week that he would be used in a rotation. But the team internally believes those decisions run counter to Flores’ team-first mentality, which further underscores the desire to trade Jones.

If a deal is consummated, the club could shift 2018 first-rounder Minkah Fitzpatrick to safety, or if it feels Fitzpatrick is more valuable as a slot corner, then CB Bobby McCain would likely be asked to fill the void.

The combination of the Dolphins having purged several high salaries from their 2019 payroll and Reshad Jones not reporting for the start of Brian Flores‘ offseason program does not provide much optimism the Pro Bowl safety will be in Miami this coming season.

But as of now, Jones remains a Dolphin. And GM Chris Grier said (via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, on Twitter) he expects the veteran safety to be a part of the 2019 team. Additionally, Grier said Jones has not asked the Dolphins for a trade, Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com tweets.

Jones has missed the start of the Dolphins’ voluntary minicamp. This isn’t the first bump in the road for Jones and the ‘Fins. In 2016, he skipped a day of mandatory minicamp as he pushed for a new contract. In 2017, he secured a new deal, but he clashed with team brass once again in 2018 when he quit after 10 snaps against the Jets.

The 2019 season will be Jones’ age-31 campaign. He made the Pro Bowl in 2015 and ’17, but the Dolphins have parted ways with ex-Pro Bowlers this offseason. They traded Robert Quinn and allowed Cameron Wake and Frank Gore to defect as free agents. The large salaries of Ryan Tannehill and Andre Branch are also gone.

Jones is set to make a team-high $13MM in 2019 and carry a $17.1MM cap number. Jones’ four-year, $48MM contract — which would tag the Dolphins with $25MM-plus in dead money were they to release him — runs through 2021. No other Dolphin carries a cap charge of more than $10MM this year, and considering how the franchise has operated thus far this offseason, the prospect of Jones playing elsewhere this coming season obviously cannot be ruled out.

The Dolphins have already parted ways with a number of veterans as they head into a rebuilding season in 2019, and Miami could next choose to move on from safety Reshad Jones. As Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald writes, the Dolphins are likely to place Jones on the trade block in advance of the regular season.

Thanks to the extension he signed in 2017, Jones isn’t a realistic candidate for release right now. He’s due more than $13MM in guaranteed base salary for the upcoming campaign, and given that three years of signing bonus proration would immediately accelerate onto the Dolphins’ salary cap if Jones is cut, he’s not going to be released. If Miami parts ways with Jones before June 1, it would take on $25.15MM in dead money, nearly $8MM more than it will cost to keep Jones on the club’s roster.

Trading Jones remains a possibility, however. In the event of a trade, guaranteed base salaries become the responsibility of the acquiring team. If the Dolphins are able to deal Jones before June 1, they’d incur $12.135MM in dead money but open up more than $5MM worth of new space. After June 1? Miami would see just $4.045MM in dead money and create ~$13MM in cap space (with roughly $8MM of dead money being moved into 2020).

Of course, it’s unclear whether any club would have interest in acquiring Jones, especially given his hefty 2019 salary. Pro Football Focus ranked Jones as the No. 33 safety among 93 qualifiers in 2019, but he’s also coming off surgery for a partially torn labrum. As such, Salguero speculates the Dolphins will likely be able to reap only a late-round pick in 2020 in exchange for Jones.

Trading Jones would not only clear cap space for the Dolphins, but allow the team to play 2018 first-round pick Minkah Fitzpatrick at safety, which is where they reportedly prefer to position the versatile defensive back. If Jones is gone, Fitzpatrick would line up alongside T.J. McDonald in Miami’s secondary.

Dolphins safety Reshad Jones had surgery on his partially torn right labrum, as Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com tweets. Jones played most of 2018 with the injury and the operation, hopefully, will enable him to play without pain or setbacks in 2019. 

Jones’ timetable for recovery is currently unknown, however, so its possible that his rehab will interfere with offseason preparation and possibly the beginning of the season. The 30-year-old avoided missing significant time due to the shoulder in 2018, but he did see his tackles per game average drop – he had 6.7 stops per contest from 2015-2017, but had only 5.1 tackles per game last year.

Last year proved to be bumpy between Jones and the Dolphins for non-injury reasons. In November, he yanked himself out of a game after just ten plays. Jones was angry at then-defensive coordinator Matt Burke and head coach Adam Gase for having him split time at safety, but the new regime led by Brian Flores may handle him differently.

Jones finished out 2018 with 72 tackles and three interceptions across 14 games. He graded out as the 33rd best safety in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.

On Sunday, Dolphins safety Reshad Jones raised eyebrows when he pulled himself out of the game after just ten plays. The decision, as Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald writes, could be extremely costly for Jones. 

The Dolphins reserve the right to fine a player for up to four paychecks for conduct detrimental to the team. If the Dolphins bring the hammer down on Jones, that would cost him upwards of $200K while voiding his future guarantees. Per the terms of his five-year, $60MM extension he inked in 2017, that would mean losing out on $35MM in guarantees over the next three years.

That’s one potential outcome. Another potential outcome is an overhaul of the coaching staff that could cost defensive coordinator Matt Burke his job. The Dolphins contained the lowly Jets on Sunday, but the defense allowed 74 points in its previous two games and signs of discord have been apparent all season.

“[Jones] came up and talked to me last night,” head coach Adam Gase said Monday. “He came up to the office and we talked. We’re still kind of going through a couple of things. I need to talk to a couple of people. Me and him are on the same page right now. … I have an idea of a lot of the things that happened.”

Jones’ outburst came after he was told that he would be splitting time at safety. Gase surely isn’t on board with Jones’ actions, but it sounds like he’s not on board with Burke’s game plan either.

The Dolphins have restructured the contract of safety Reshad Jones in order to create extra cap space, tweets Field Yates of ESPN.com.

Jones had been scheduled to earn a base salary of $9.375MM in 2018, but that figure has now been slashed to $970K, per Yates, who adds Jones will take home a signing bonus of $4.05MM. As with most restructures, Jones will earn the same amount of money overall, but Miami will create roughly $6.6MM in cap room for the free agent period.

Even after missing the majority of the 2016 campaign, Jones inked a five-year, $60MM extension with the Dolphins at this time last year. In 2017, Jones stayed healthy for all 16 games and posted 94 tackles, two interceptions, and 1.5 sacks.